We’re In Switzerland!

On Sunday, June 14 a small group of No Games organizers left Chicago to fly seven time zones to the east to reach Lausanne, Switzerland. Our intention is to meet with the International Olympic Committee to tell them why Chicago should not be awarded the 2016 games.

Daley and his minions couldn’t be trusted to protect Chicagoans in the parking meter fiasco. How can we trust him with a multi-billion financial commitment for the Olympics. The taxpayers are going to again be left holding the bag.

I hope you guys enjoy your trip to switzerland on your sponsors dime. I dont know what evidence you guys have but the fact of the matter is that the olympic games will put money in to the chicago area and the economy, cost overruns or not. I dont know if you jackasses realize this but there are hundreds of thousands of people who are out of work right now that could be helped over the next seven years. Chicago needs the games now more than ever. If you had ANY family or friends in the Chicago construction industry you would know what this would do for that distraught field right now. You people disgust me, critiquing cost overruns while you run off on a pointless $20,000 “business” trip to switzerland. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

the stupidity of your video is hilarious, you use olympic themes for your anti-olympic video. Tom, I hope you and your three other “No Games” staff stay in Switzerland because you obviously don’t appreciate the City of Chicago. Try doing something better with your time to actually contribute to the struggling economy.

When the pro-Chicago 2016 and Mayor Daley fans start to comment, you can sense the weakness of their arguments.

No Games Chicago is only about not allowing our City’s public resources to be used to sponsor an event at the expense of our public institutions and our infrastructure. Also, if these decisions were made with citizen participation, I was not informed of it, and in the last Mayoral election, Mayor Daley stated that it was not going to cost the taxpayer anything. Weeks later, he had the City Council approve the $500 million guarantee, but says he doesn’t intend to use it. Then he goes to Denver, and brags about the public funds that he’s amassed. Who is anti-Chicago, Sam? Our mayor who cannot tell the truth and feels entitled to spend tax dollars with no accountability or No Games Chicago, which acknowledges the financial problems that Chicago faces, and concludes that Chicago cannot host the Olympic Games?

Cliff, you mean No Games Chicago or the Chicago 2016 hacks who drank the Kool-Aid?

If the plan is to spend TIF money and take out bonds to fund the construction of Olympic venues instead of fixing train stations, repave roads, you bet I’d sabotage that. In a democracy, people actually could discuss and debate the pros and cons of things and make educated choices with their government officials facilitating debate and going with the consensus, but in Chicago, we are supposed to trust Mayor Daley without question. The same Mayor Daley who no one wishes to confront or inform that he’s ruining our City. After years of corruption, several megaprojects, and friends and family with full pockets of money, it’s probably time to tell Daley he’s ruining the City, don’t you think?

This anti-2016 movement is BS and will fail. If you don’t like Chicago, why don’t you leave!? Yes the city has some internal problems. What major US city does not. To use this as a forum to whine about municipal politics is pathetic. The games will bring a lot of new energy and development to many areas of the city. Gee I bet if we win the bid, much of the infrastructure would be modernized in anticipation of the games. Neighborhoods will improve by escalating property values. Jobs will be created. We will get to show the world we are not a bunch of weapon wielding stormtroopers! Why don’t you morons take your criticisms to the local & state level to fix Chicago? To use it instead to derail the effort to secure the gains is not only anti-Chicago, it is anti-American. You will all fail in your efforts. It’s really pretty sad :(

My favorite part of this trip to Europe for the IOC meetings is the $10000 cost. Flights to Switzerland currently cost around $600 a piece ($1800 for the three). Now you are saying that the cost for staying in Switzerland for the length of the meetings is in the neighborhood of $8200? The receipts from the expenses should get posted if this is really going to be eventually funded by this website. Be a model of transparency so that when Chicago does get the BID (I hope) you can at least point to your work and demand similar accountability to reduce the potential for the corruption you rail against.

You dont get it do you? If we get the olympics a lot of that money will go toward improving infrastructure such as public transportation, and we would get money from the government for these projects rather than having to pay for it all ourselves. Not to mention all of the money put in to our economy by tourists who simply want to go to the city the olympics is/was in, before or after the games. Every city is ripe with corruption, if you dont think so your fooling yourself. So why should we allow some other corrupt city to get the olympics. I love how this website has more pro-olympic posters than anti-olympic. Goes to show your “movement” is just four people who stole money so they could go on a trip to switzerland.

Not only do I not currently nor have I ever worked at city hall, im not a daley fan, and im a republican. Of the say 2 million Chicago area residents that actually care one way or the other, I’d say 1.9 are for it, and then there are the 100,000 against. So I guess by your logic 1.9 million people work for city hall?

Yes man @ 6/16 7:29: How many people could be put to work if we just took the $500 million (now unlimited according to Daley’s latest play) “guarantee” and the $250 million “guarantee” and put it to work on projects that would employ people? We don’t need the Olympics to do that.

Instead you and your fellow ostriches want to rob Peter to pay Paul while pretending it won’t be done.

Jim: “1.9 are for it….” You’re way off. I’d say there are at least hundreds of people working for the bid or indirectly employed in support of in favor of the Olympics. The other 2.8 million Chicago area (thus taxpaying) residents over the age of 14 are against it.

You do not represent the entire population of Chicago. Your logic right there is flawed from the get go. How would it feel if you get pushed out of your neighborhood because they want to build the olympic village there? How would you feel if rents go up like they did in Sydney and Vancouver leading up to the olympics? How would you feel if the sales tax surged up because Daley has no other way of funding the olympics other than squeezing it out of our taxes? My neighborhood is getting gentrified by the same real estate cronies of our dear mayor who will end up driving away the working class and immigrant families because of higher rents associated with the olympics. These same cronies are going to benefit from the olympics, not me, not you, not the entire city of Chicago who will further end up in the red because Daley doesn’t know how to prioritize. Keep in mind the city 1,500 jobs that are about to get axed this week. I really find it funny how you can’t see the flaws in this whole olympic bid. Daley and his cronies shine, the people of Chicago will end up getting burned.

Sorry, the strikethrus didn’t show. Above, please strike “in favor of” and “area” to get the point, as in:

Jim: “1.9 are for it….” You’re way off. I’d say there are at least hundreds of people working for the bid or indirectly employed in support of the Olympics. The other 2.8 million Chicago (thus taxpaying) residents over the age of 14 are against it.

I never said the bid was perfect, in fact on my first post i admitted they’re would probably be cost overruns. The bottom line is the fact that billions of dollars would be pumped into the chicago economy over the next 10-15 years due to the olympics. You can ignore that fact if you want, but it is much needed in our current economic climate. You’ve completely ignored the main issue is that these people are wasting other peoples money to take a “business” trip to switzerland, go do something productive with your time. And don’t quote me on this, but as far as I am aware the chicago 2016 is a privately funded effort, not taking money from out of the city budget??

and “what if”, this is a huge boom of construction projects that will go through if we get the olympics, what type of projects will create jobs on that scale. You need work for people to do, you cant just give them jobs(yes i realize in illinois government you can do that anyway)

when i said chicago 2016, i meant the entity that is responsible for the bid effort, not the games themselves. By that I mean if we were not to be awarded the games in October, there will have been no cost to the city.

Jim, so you support a “hypothetical” Olympics, that would generate a lot of money, but you don’t support the real Olympics should Chicago be selected the Olympic host for the 2016 Summer Games? If that’s the case, I support a “hypothetical” Olympics, too. I just know that there is a chance that Chicago’s bid may be successful, so you need to take a stand, not seem pro-Chicago 2016’s bid effort but dislike what may happen if Chicago is selected. This is not a college course to debate the topic, this is real life.

There may be jobs, but in order to live in the City, our City needs to be solvent and provide the things that any city needs. Have you read the Chicago papers? There’s a $300 million budget deficit in the City and the State has a massive deficit. How will hosting the Olympics solve that? Do you have an independent study that says that Olympics have solved a city’s budget deficits? And do you have any information on the types of jobs that would be created or the number of jobs? Pro-Chicago 2016 people hang their hopes on the Olympic Games, but I think it’s best to try and solve our City’s problems first than to take on new priorities.

I have lived in Chicago all my life and know of no one who wants the Olympics, and absoulutly no one who wants to pay for them. The argument has been made that the Olympics will create construction jobs for an industry that is really hurting at this time. I’m sorry for lack of construction work, but I don’t want to see a two week party held on my dime! Chicago is a great city with many, many problems. We need leadership that will address these problems, and clearly, this knucklehead mayor is the wrong guy!

Now the truth has come out. On June 17, Daley told Olympic mucky-mucks the city (i.e., us taxpayers) will take full financial responsibility for mounting the 2016 Summer Games. This after denying for months that the funds would be needed. Could it be any clearer? Nobody asked us if we wanted the Olympics, like no one asked if we wanted to give away our parking meters (or Midway airport for that matter). But we sure as heck are on the hook for the bill.
Take the $500 million and fix the CTA…or the schools…or the city’s infrastructure.

Jim: I can identify several large scale projects in my neighborhood that need to be done. Just be honest, use the $750 million and counting in taxpayer money and fund the projects that will require new hires.